We encourage you to read these dissertations to get a sense of what is required to complete a PsyD dissertation. This list of "model" dissertations was created to provide students with examples of different types of research (e.g., scale development, intervention, development and evaluation of media, etc.) as well as different types of methodologies. Our intention was to give students an idea of how one can address various types of research problems using a variety of methodologies. These examples are not intended to be proscriptive. In other words, we are not saying "this is how you should do it"; rather, we are merely showing several ways, albeit good ways, of how you can do it. The types of dissertations and the methedologies listed here are by no means exhaustive; there are many other types of research that one can conduct and many more methodologies that can be employed. Similarly, the "model" dissertations listed here are but a few of the dissertations that we thought were exemplars of specific types of research.
Model Dissertations
We encourage you to read these dissertations to get a sense of what is required to complete a PsyD dissertation. This list of "model" dissertations was created to provide students with examples of different types of research (e.g., scale development, intervention, development and evaluation of media, etc.) as well as different types of methodologies. Our intention was to give students an idea of how one can address various types of research problems using a variety of methodologies. These examples are not intended to be proscriptive. In other words, we are not saying "this is how you should do it"; rather, we are merely showing several ways, albeit good ways, of how you can do it. The types of dissertations and the methedologies listed here are by no means exhaustive; there are many other types of research that one can conduct and many more methodologies that can be employed. Similarly, the "model" dissertations listed here are but a few of the dissertations that we thought were exemplars of specific types of research.Model Dissertations by Type
· Scale development
Chronic pain stigma: Development of the Chronic Pain Stigma Scale (Reed, 2005)Development and validation of the Stereotypes of Asian American Men Endorsement Scale (SAAMES) (Wong, 2008)
· Workshop/curriculum/training (Holly Andrew, Curriculum for teachers of Head Start and evaluation; Sebastian Berrin, Evaluation of intercultural training)
Early identification of target children in the Head Start program : a training program for first-year graduate students in clinical psychology (Andrew, 2007)
· Intervention (Brian Evans, Mindfulness as an intervention for adults with ADD, used experts to evaluate; Steve Gemingnani, DBT with adults with mild cognitive impairment and evaluated by professionals; Katie Pedgrift, Training adults with developmental disabilities on sexual misconduct and evaluated by agencies; Kristi Sosnowski, Training parents of children with autism in play therapy (includes an evaluation with pre vs. post on variables assessed by parents);
Mindfulness meditation as an intervention for Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (used experts to evaluate the intervention) (Evans, 2007)
Adapting dialectical behavior therapy group skills training for people with moderate cognitive impairment (evaluated by professionals) (Gemignani, 2009)
A sexual abuse prevention program for people with intellectual disability (evaluated by agencies) (Pedgrift, 2009)
Online cognitive restructuring self-help: www.SelfHelpSocialAnxiety.com: A new application for social anxiety disorder (evaluated by experts) (Egan, 2010)
· Media (books, videos, etc.)
Putting it into words : a storybook for latency-aged children with cystic fibrosis and their families (evaluated by parents) (Holohan, 2006)
Racial, ethnic and religious identity development : a children's book on the Zoroastrian religion (qualitative and quantitative evaluation using parents and children) (Shroff, 2010)
Helping young children understand a mother's bipolar disorder : a children's book (evaluated by parents and experts) (Goldberg, 2008)
· Conceptual-analytic
Heterosexism in clinical psychology textbooks (hermeneutic inquiry) (Schanz, 2006)
· Attitudes
Exploring the opinions of socially marginalized men on physician assisted suicide (Parks, 2008)
Model dissertations by Methodology
Data collection· Survey (Patricia Reed, Sebastian Berrin, Richie Wong,)
Cultural responsivity in clinical psychology graduate students: A developmental approach to the prediction of learning (includes pilot study) (Berrin, 2010)
Also see Reed (2005) and Wong (2008) above.
· Online survey
See Wong (2008) above.
Quantitative Methods
· Factor analysis
See Reed (2005) and Wong (2008) above.
Qualitative
· Focus groups
Mixed Methods
See Berrin (2010) and Shroff (2010) above.